A method for fastening a web or sheet to an article.
The invention relates to a method for fastening a web or sheet of elastomeric material to an article.
Mostly when putting such a method into practice a plurality of holes are made in the web or sheet of elastomeric material, which holes correspond to holes in the article to which the web is to be fastened. Screwed connections are then applied in these holes. This leads to too much deformation and tearing of the web already in case of small loads. That is why one will often turn to the application of clamping, by means of which the load is distributed somewhat more proportionally and with less chance of tearing. When still working with screwed connections it can hardly be avoided that one screwed connection is tighter than another and such a non-uniform load immediately affects the web of elastomeric material adversely. For under tensile strain the sheet can be pulled out further at one screwed connection than at another and this again means a shorter lifetime of the web.
Furthermore, articles are often to be fastened to a web of elastomeric material in an airtight way, for instance a membrane to an expansion tank or a valve base to a vehicle inner tube. The additional requirement of the airtightness, combined with higher loads, leads to the use of a clamp connection, where the web is provided with a bead or with a reinforcement. A drawback of these latter embodiments is that the web has become a moulded article, which has to be produced in special moulds.
A principally different way of fastening, where no use is made of clamping can be obtained by means of glueing or vulcanization. But these connections are not detachable, so that the web cannot be replaced either.